NATALIA: Stadium World Tour examines through the lens of contemporary dance performance within large-scale popular music events. Situating the tour within the broader discourse of concert dance, spectacle, and popular culture, the study navigates how choreography functions not only as entertainment but as a critical tool for narrative construction, identity expression, and audience engagement. Through analysis of selected performances, choreographic structures, rehearsal processes, and spatial dynamics, the research explores the integration of commercial dance vocabularies with theatrical and cinematic aesthetics. The study contributes to mass media contexts and the evolving place of choreography in global entertainment industries. 

This study aims to approach the concept of dance practice and to create a deeper understanding through unfolding different perspectives on the concept. The methodology of the study includes post-qualitative and practice-based methods. The research was conducted through practicing a dance practice in the studio every day, 5 days a week for four week and sharing the practice with three colleagues. The research material was induced through written reflections after practicing in the studio and sharing the practice. For the analysis the diffractive method was used in order to read the material through the roles involved in A/R/Tography. Firstly, a simplification of the material is done by reading the material through each role and then a complexification by reading the material through the A/R/Tographer’s role and combining this reading with the activities of teaching, performing, training, reading and writing. Lastly in discussion the analysed material in contact with the literature create different perspectives on the concept of dance practice offering an increased understanding of the concept in the professional life of the dance artist, teacher, researcher.

The aim of this study is to develop a methodological model for dance education that strengthens awareness and communication around physical contact in traditional partner dance. The study is conducted from an a/r/tographic perspective with a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach, using bricolage as a methodological framework. The process alternates between individual exploration, collaboration with a focus group, and engagement with relevant literature and theoretical perspectives. Through practical exercises, verbal reflections, and living inquiry, participants were involved in an a/r/tographic process where various knowledge positions were made visible. This resulted in a flexible methodological model that can be adapted to different teaching and social dance contexts. The study also explores strategies for fostering safer and more consent-based encounters in social partner dancing. It contributes with knowledge on how method development in dance pedagogy can be shaped through interaction with participants and highlights key areas for further work with physical contact in traditional dance and other social contexts.

This master’s project explores the role of the répétiteur in vocal coaching, focusing on how different forms of communication - verbal, non-verbal, musical, and gestural - affect the rehearsal process and artistic outcomes. Through video-recorded sessions with individual singers and ensembles, as well as reflective journaling and analysis, the author investigates how preparation, personal interaction, and communication strategies contribute to trust, collaboration, and musical expression. Drawing on theories from Constantine, Montgomery, and Nafisi, the project highlights the répétiteur’s dual role as musical partner and facilitator, emphasizing the importance of presence, adaptability, and a supportive learning environment. The findings suggest that communication in coaching is not merely instructional but relational, enabling both artistic risk-taking and meaningful musical development.

Wobbles is an artistic research project conducted by Omer Keinan during the New Performative Practices Master's program at Stockholm University of the Arts. This project unfolds through three primary momenta: a publication, an artistic research methodology, and two research-creation processes.

The publication “Wobbles” includes a series of essays and poems that articulate the concepts of wobble technique: a know-how for grappling with the intensities of relationality as rife with instability and potentiality. And wobbling practices, tools for bringing that which had been rendered static and fixed into dynamism and transformation. This publication includes a range of excerpts from the various workshops and literature encountered through the NPP studies, a snapshot of a body at the end of a stretch.

The artsitic research methodology “A Performance Practice Interface” experiments with the study, circulation, and craft of forms-of-practice (exercises, activities, scores, experimental systems) as particularly potent conveyers of experience and knowledge. This methodology is developed through two primary activities: Shop Talk, a studio conversation format which seeks to document forms in their situated thickness; and Blue Sky, a dance-based gathering format which invites practitioners to open their forms to collective play.

The research-creation processes “Telos” and “Knots” practice various methods for collapsing beyond order and logic into discord and dysregulation, from the sacred into the profane. Playing between affirmation and negation, constitution and destitution – beckoning conflict and mischief through spicy wobbling.

“It’s not about that.” is a performance project - a product of a collaborative process It moves on a spectrum between dance and theatre, using elements from both, and making them overlap. 

The work centers around themes of performing femininity. The main topics include: societal expectations towards women’s physical appearance and behavior and the self-criticism and -destruction these societal structures can evoke in the individual. Other themes include: hysteria, expression of feminine anger, and violence against women - including psychological violence such as manipulation. It deals with the idea that a violent action is irreversible, whether its consequences are visible or not. 

This paper will examine the backgournd of the work and elaborate on the performative, scenographic and choreographic elements of the piece.

‘RATBAG: A Solo Deviser’s Journey’ explores the use of solo devising as a method for gathering, exploring, and theatricalising autobiographical memory, culminating in the creation of a performance titled ‘RATBAG.’ Through a detailed process of self-reflection, interviews, and practical experimentation within the rehearsal space, the research investigates how personal narratives can be transformed into performative expression. Central to this exploration is the concept of ‘The Spark,’ the initial moment of inspiration that drives creative exploration and the utilization of ‘distractions as tools rather than obstacles’. By embracing a non-linear, intuitive approach to devising, and by incorporating multimedia elements such as video projection and soundscapes, the researcher delves into the complexities of memory and its distortion over time. This study also addresses the ethical considerations of using personal and familial histories in artistic creation, emphasizing transparency and consent. Ultimately, this dissertation provides insights into the solo devising process, revealing its potential as a deeply personal and transformative and potentially therapeutic approach to creating autobiographical theatre.

An artistic study on how dance, performance and activism connected in my personal life between the years 2023 and 2024 and how I created a dance performance based on that experience. I go through memories of situations from protest, conflict and confinement and share how that informed my artistic- and dance practice. On the side, I contemplate the possibilities of art, especially dance making in the context of civil obedience. 

The paper also includes some Finnish poems and a short video with music by Orvokki (5Epp0)

This text is about the creation, process and product of a dance performance called "2 WEAVE through (SPA)CE", made by Linnea Johansson and Inka Keränen. The piece focuses on kindness, care, and connection, exploring themes like outer space, water, memory, and dissociation. The artists worked gently and openly, sharing ideas from their past and tuning in to their feelings and sensations to create a tender space. Their process was about trusting each other and making room for calmness and vulnerability. The performance aims to invite the audience into a warm, caring environment where everyone can feel connected and cared for.

This study aimed to explore three choreographic methods in collaboration with seven young dancers. Using a student-centered approach to dance education, we examined these methods to achieve a shared creative process. The methods focused on generating choreography through various tools. The practical exploration with the dancers took place in the dance studio on three separate occasions. Documentation was collected through a field journal and recordings of the dance material. Utilizing the field journal, I analyzed the choreographic methods and the experience surrounding them. Five significant themes emerged from the analysis: collaboration, time, music & counting, stage experience & identity and at last experience, self-confidence & safety. They were all highlighted as essential elements in the creative process for children. To gather a broader response, these methods need to be explored with a larger group of dancers.

‘Alanisse’ is a performance by Maya Giraudet and Saga Ivéus Wenglert, putting different forms of synchronisation in the center to explore language, speech, listening and (mis)communication. The performance is framed as a game for two players, with the purpose of making the third entity Alanisse appear and perform. During the game Alanisse speaks to, through and with the performers and the audience. This essay investigates the role of synchronisation and the various forms it found within this project.

The study aims to examine how the experience of bodily musicality can differ depending on if the assignment is based on theory or intuition with jazz dance aesthetic as starting point. It is a qualitative study based on introspection and post-qualitative methodology. The study has one theoretical part based on literature in dance, music and didactics. The other part is practical where in-studio research took place which was inspired by the previously mentioned literature. These two parts were then analysed and discussed through memory notes, video material and literature to compare the experience of bodily experienced musicality based on two practical methods. One being grounded in an intuitive relationship and one in theoretical relationship between dance and music. The conclusion showed that there are both differences and similarities between the methods and through a didactic perspective the two can enhance the experience of bodily musicality.

How can we work and create from and with pleasure? 

How can friendship be the frame we work in?

What do we actually create, and want to create? 

How can love guide us, and what happens if we collectively orient towards pleasure? 

These themes and questions have shaped the core of this project. They emerged from my personal experiences of being caught up in a non-supportive creation process mostly with myself and my desire to reimagine how to approach work and creation. Often I experienced the creation process, especially when I am the one creating, clouded by stress and self-doubt. I am tired of feeling that way and asked myself, what if there’s another way? How would it be to work from and with pleasure? In this process I gave it a try, the beauty of attempt.  

Tsakpin is a degree project work that took place in the context of the BA in Dance Performace in autumn 2024. This project is a study on this dance that in Greece is called Tsifteteli, within the framework of a multi-national and institutional context of studying dance in Europe. Having Tsifteteli as a tangible and rich starting point and studying its materials, its history, its phenomena, a discussion is fueled on our positions and understanding around the experience of dance, gender, sensuality, our aesthetic perceptions, patriarchy and the social role of women. The main goal is to place ourselves and practice in this discussion, understanding our own connection and feeling, and the necessities of our time and to develop tactics to negotiate and work with this dance. 

A desire of this project is to give some space, attention and validity to some tradition and geographical/cultural context beyond the western dance canon. To practice drawing knowledge and trusting practices located in spaces beyond the theatre and the studio, in the wider sphere of social and communal life. To explore ways of strengthening the community that is within the narrow confines of a tradition, of empowering its members, and of transforming practices.

This thesis explores the factors that impact students’ motivation in higher dance education, focusing on how teachers affect students’ motivation as perceived by the students. The surrounding factors are highlighted, for example, inner drive, inspiration from peers, families, and the impact of study environments. Motivation is introduced, with intrinsic and extrinsic factors highlighted, and the self-determination theory is discussed. The factors discussed in this thesis include pedagogical approaches, teacher-student relationships, and environmental influences. The study is based on quantitative research with a qualitative depth to dive deeper into the factors of motivation. The study conducted a quantitative questionnaire, with both pre-coded and open free-text answers. The questionnaire was spread in online communities of dance students in higher education, both active and alumni student groups. The thematic analysis reveals that students’ motivation is influenced by passion, peer support, versatile feedback, and the teacher’s enthusiasm for the subject. The findings emphasize the importance of reflective, student-centered, and supportive learning environments to foster student motivation. 

“UTTU” is a performative movement exploration that emerges from openness, allowing things to surface, rather than be shaped. It invites the hidden, the broken, the unwanted, and the in-between to reveal themselves - those neglected fragments that exist on the other side. In this space of non-separation, movement unfolds through the gesture of attunement into what is invisible or ‘unknown’.

Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action informs this process of exploration both in the metaphysical experience of dance — where the dancer’s body is inseparable from the environment and the objects within it — and the creation of performance worlds, where everything is entangled in the co-creation of meaning and movement. The phenomenon is before the phenomena, there are no separate atoms, no separate agents or elements, what is happening is the creation in between. 

“UTTU” is also a practice to decolonize my artistic process from the dominance of Western thought, and let the phenomenological experience, the inspiration and the intuition weave themselves through. 

Leaking: like a drop that forms over time until it gathers enough weight to leave the surface, while another drop is forming, defining its own parameters of gathering and falling. A leak depends on a leaning against, an insistence on leaning against a little gap, a space in between the river flows, it might echo as a call for action, or else leaks too slowly to be noticed. The time it takes for the drop to fall, is holding a term, is making the leak more or less apparent, is marking a territory of control, in an effort to contain what will always remain dropping and pouring somewhere. 

Leaking into para-time is a performative installation that explores the forming of a landscape of collected material that were leaking out of the stream of utility and efficiency. It holds a hand underneath these shapes to see what elsethey might become, observing their gravitational negotiation, like a flat stone being hurled over the water surface. Each surface contact takes it further from the shore until the spinning cannot sustain itself and weight is introduced again. The stone sinks to the bottom of the sea, where the tide and waves move it again and sand soften its edges.

This work uses psychological methods learned during EMDR-therapy, combined with mindfulness, to enhance the opera singers mental health and quality of performance. Furthermore there is a reflection on how to use performance psychology as a helping factor as well. There are analysis of practical workshops with teachers and experts in voice and body training (dance), which ultimately conclude that the most successful practical methods used by experts in the fields of singing and dance also reflect the psychological methods discussed earlier. 

Finally other inspirational artists and their struggles are presented, in order to emphasize the importance of an open atmosphere where mental health for artists is freely discussed. Which in turn can help produce better art and artists. 

I introduce you to a pedagogical exploration I did using virtual reality technology (VR) to get feedback for live performing arts. I created and explored a pedagogical design – a process – through experimentations with other artists. My process was a crash-course to the literacy with VR and 360 recordings so that they can be used with my support to analyse one’s own work with performing arts.

My set-up hinted to a clear intrinsic nature the VR has and should be considered if used in similar fashion. The technology affects the observations made in a way that will influence the work it is supposed to support.

If used correctly, the technology has advantages to more traditional ways to get feedback. It might be useful for learning environments and process analysis and for the performance-creation processes. There were some practical problems that I will go into, but most of them can either be solved with better set-ups or with more education, or considered in the work itself. From a wider ethical perspective, the process of using VR has its social and environmental impacts, which everyone should consider before they decide to work with this kind of technology.

Especially now that I have used a complex, new tool like VR as a part of my pedagogical process, I have conscientiously made it so that the human beings – and their learning journeys and experiences – have been in the focus of this exploration and this written reflection.

It's not about that is a choreographic and performative exploration by Julia Christoffersson and Mira Buus Rasmussen that investigates the intersections of violence, gender norms, bodily autonomy, and institutional critique. The work engages with feminist and intersectional perspectives, interrogating whiteness within institutional structures and the politics of representation. Through strategies of discomfort, provocation, and audience manipulation, the performance aims to destabilize notions of safety and control while opening space for critical reflection on power, identity, and perception.

Please feel invited to practise the scores the thesis provides. 

Hos mig har det alltid funnits en nyfikenhet att utforska gestaltning och se hur långt det går att tänja på en karaktärs uttryck i olika riktningar. Den här nyfikenheten har växt under tiden jag sjungit opera just för att opera är en konstform där mycket är förutbestämt av ramar så som notbild och tempo. Jag undrar därför hur mycket jag som sångare kan påverka min karaktärs uttryck och motiv utan att förlora textens innebörd eller kliva utanför de musikaliska ramarna. I denna uppsats utforskar jag vad det ger en sångare att dra känslorna som karaktären känner till sin spets och gestalta samma roll i ett brett känslospann, en undersökning om att våga tänja på ramarna i scenisk gestaltning. 

The emotional qualities of operatic performance are undoubtable and an integral part of a performance. Might there be a trace of these emotions in the overtone spectrum of an operatic tenor? Using myself as an experimental subject, I examine whether or not this is true using recordings and fourier transforms thereof to study the overtones. Though no clear pattern is recognised, the study seems to suggest that a "sad" emotion and bodily posture lends itself to an optimised way of singing.

MASS is a dance performance exploring the thematics of mass as a place of empowerment. Inspired by landslides and ants this living mass is ever-shaping. Our bodies morph into non-human ones as we imagine other kinds of anatomies to construct us. Through insisting on this transformation the piece proposes a decentralization of the human experience. MASS offers glimpses into landscapes of micro and macro scale.

In this essay, with a similar title MASS, Anni Koivusalo unpacks the consepts of the dance performance as her artistic thesis and the methods and experiences of working.

Disobedience always relates to the obedience of some rules or conventions. In this text, I’ll try to name some of those “obediences” of my craft and how I see my ways of working in relation to disobedience.

This dissertation explores the mechanisms of hyperfocus in relation to the performing arts, both on stage during live performance and throughout the creative rehearsal process, from a first-person neurodivergent perspective. It does this primarily through rehearsing the play Märit by Malin Nord, based on Ing-Marie Eriksson’s 1965 novel. The aim is to map and articulate how hyperfocus functions within artistic practice, and how it can shape both individual expression and collective creative work. 

At the center of this investigation is the question: How does hyperfocus impact the creative process in performance art, and how can it refine and deepen artistic expression? As a director with lived experience of autism and ADHD, I explore how hyperfocus enhances presence, precision, and intensity in both rehearsal and performance. The work focuses on developing sustainable methods that support artistic clarity while caring for rhythm, recovery, and the cognitive system. 

This research also examines how neurodivergent expressions such as stimming can strengthen hyperfocus and fuel artistic energy. Through practical experiments and artistic reflection, the study cultivates neuroaffirmative working environments and reframes collaboration, expression, and inclusion. A central concept is the neurodivergent gaze—a way of seeing, feeling, and understanding that challenges dominant norms around expression, time, communication, and presence. 

Ultimately, this work refines my own creative processes while offering concrete tools to promote sustainability, innovation, and empowerment within the broader performing arts community.